Things were different then...

Towards the end of my time in school, the fear of parental complaints had almost got out of hand. One might call it paranoia, but the statistics tell another story. In 2023 there was an increase in parental complaints to Ofsted of almost 25 per cent from the previous year. That's only the ones that go to Ofsted of course, and doesn't take into account the numbers that are dealt with by schools themselves, which I suspect had increased by at least that amount over 2022 figures.

I was at primary school in the late seventies and early eighties, and as the title of this post states, things were different then. Today I was thinking about one day in particular when this was the case, so I thought I should write about it here.

Apaches

It's summer in 1980 and the whole school have been gathered into the hall. Something unusual is happening and there is a lot of chatter from the children, as there is not normally an assembly after lunch. The heavy brown curtains have been pulled across to keep out the light and the big telly has been wheeled to the font of the gathered masses. The dinner ladies had obviously not had time to clean the floor after lunch as there are peas dotted all over the worn wooden boards in various states of decay. The teachers are far from pleased when squeals from the children prompt them to intervene for an improvised clean-up. It's hot and sweaty in here and it's going to get much hotter.

The head teacher quietens everyone down and then hurriedly introduces the programme. He says its going to teach us all how to be safe. The VHS is slid in and after a few seconds a blue title screen appears stating that we are about to watch 'A Central Office of Information Film for the Health and Safety Executive'. Some of the year six children groan, not knowing what is about to unfold.

For the next 27 minutes the assembled children are treated to one of the most terrifying pieces of film ever made, called Apaches. For the first few minutes everything appears pretty normal, as a group of six children enjoy a game of 'cowboys and Indians' on some farm land. Whilst this is happening, the narrator describes how the parents are 'getting ready for the party'.

As the game progresses, the children decide to attack a 'wagon train', which is really a tractor being driven into the farm. One of them manages to climb on the moving trailer, and as he celebrates he slips and falls under the wheels, screaming as he dies in agony. We then cut to a stark scene in the cloakroom of the school and watch as the teacher takes the label with the dead child's name on it from off their peg. 

To say this shocked us children in our lovely little primary school was an understatement, but this was only the start as over the next fifteen minutes or so the children each suffer terrifying farm related deaths in a variety of horrific ways.

The end of the film is even more horrifying, and there are a couple of brilliant plot twists that we certainly didn't see coming. I have included a link to the film at the end of this post, if you are brave enough to watch it!

If you are not intending to watch it, here are a couple of bits of information from the BFI page where the film sits that might just convince you. Firstly, it was directed by John McKenzie, who three years later directed the extremely adult gangster thriller 'The Long Good Friday'. On top of that, the description on the BFI page includes that phrases "famous and disturbing", "B-movie vernacular", "almost using a 'slasher' film format" and "lasting effect on the psyche of the nation's youth."

So, returning to the title of this post, I wonder what sort of reaction showing this in school today would garner from parents, let alone children. Did watching it do us any harm? Possibly, but one could argue that it might have inspired a generation of film buffs. So how to we get past the current climate of fear of parental and Ofsted complaints? I am sad to say that I don't know.

Watch Apaches online - BFI Player